Charles Leclerc struggled to find the rhythm in qualifying at Suzuka, but he is “optimistic” about the race tomorrow, as he felt the car was performing well in the long run.
The Ferrari driver only went 8th fastest in Q3, as he admitted he struggled to warm up the tires during the preparation lap. However, he still feels Ferrari is in a better position than what the team expected before the weekend.
Leclerc also admitted that having a good race pace won’t be enough, as overtaking in Suzuka is not as easy as on other tracks.
“We are further away than we thought, maybe the car characteristics don’t suit as much at Suzuka as the Red Bull does.
“It’s a bit strange because I think in the long run we are pretty good.
“I’m optimistic about our race pace. I’m less optimistic about overtaking on a track like this.
“Suzuka is normally a very difficult track to overtake so if we have enough pace to overtake, then I think we can do great tomorrow. But it’s going to be difficult.”
Regarding his qualifying struggles, he said that he will study how to better warm up the tires as he is having issues with that quite a bit this year.
“Most of the time when you are finishing P8, there’s always an explanation for it – whether there’s a mistake in one corner or just the setup,” he said.
“But honestly, the car felt in a good place. The lap felt quite okay, just not enough grip available to go faster.
“There’s a pattern since Q1 that has been a bit strange, which I believe is more related to tire preparation, but it’s not been only once this year.
“So we’ll have to look into it and try to understand what I can do better to get those tires ready for qualifying [going forward] because at the moment I’m struggling mostly with that.
“I don’t really have an explanation for that now.”